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War against the Lich King
The war against the Lich King (also called the "war against the Scourge" and "battle against the Lich King" ) is an ongoing war that is played out in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. It started when Varian Wrynn prepared to attack the Scourge, but the Lich King had already made his plans and attacked Stormwind before Varian could send his offensive. At the same time the Scourge invaded Orgrimmar, and so the war began. Prelude The capitals of Azeroth began receiving mysterious packages with infected grain. As their citizens ate grain from the infected packages, they were turned into bloodthirsty ghouls if not treated by members of the Argent Dawn. With all the major capitals thrown into chaos, necropoleis appeared around the world, triggering a second Scourge war. Adventurers from both the Alliance and the Horde fought back the disease and the advancing Scourge armies. Outraged by this treachery, Warchief Thrall with his fellow Horde leaders, and King Varian Wrynn planned an invasion on Northrend to deal with the Lich King once and for all. The final straw occurred when the Lich King directly attacked the capitals of the Horde and the Alliance. Orgrimmar and Stormwind were attacked by a large Scourge army consisting of frost wyrms and abominations. The Battles for Stormwind and Orgrimmar were won by the brave adventurers and their leaders once more, thus forming the Horde Expedition and the Alliance Vanguard. Invasion of Northrend The Warsong Offensive fleet, consisting mainly of ships built by goblins from nearby Ratchet, assembled near the Durotar coastline where they sailed off to the Borean Tundra while the Forsaken Hand of Vengeance fleet set off from Tirisfal Glades, heading for the Howling Fjord on other side of the frozen continent. There they stumbled upon the taunka, a long-lost race of tauren who were fighting a losing war against the Scourge. Thanks to adventurers the taunka were saved and gladly joined the HordeBlood Oath of the Horde to reclaim their homeland.Warcraft: Legends Volume 2Warcraft: Legends Volume 3 Meanwhile, the Alliance fleet of the Valiance Expedition set off from Stormwind and Menethil Harbor, building a new base on the Borean Tundra at Valiance Keep and meeting their long lost brethren in Valgarde in Howling Fjord. The dwarven expedition known as the Explorers' League sailed with the Alliance, hoping to find clues of their past and aiding the fight against the Lich King. Like the Horde however, they also met a tribe of dwarves called the Frostborn who not only fought the Scourge, but other threats as well. Although reluctant, they joined the Alliance and swore to aid where they could. The Kirin Tor, moving a freshly reconstructed Dalaran to Northrend to fight their Nexus War against Malygos, also aided both factions with their fights against the Scourge and offered a sanctuary to adventurers in their city. The Sunreavers and the Silver Covenant represent their respective factions in the Nexus War, but have not offered much in the way of aid in the Lich King conflict, though their level of involvement has increased with the ongoing Argent Tournament in northeast Icecrown. Early battles The early battles of the war were mostly defending their newly established bases in Northrend. Both the Scourge and their vrykul allies attacked the expeditions, causing many casualties. Thanks again to adventurers the factions were able to hold off the attacks and make allies in Northrend. The battle for Icemist Village , the attack on Warsong Hold , and the raids on Valgarde and Valiance Keep represent some of these battles. Counter-attack With their forces firmly established in Northrend, the Horde and the Alliance chose to focus on the Lich King's new-found vrykul allies, focusing their efforts on Utgarde Keep and other vrykul villages around Northrend , to both weaken the overall might of the Scourge, and to gain strategic advantage over the other faction. Moving deeper inland on the Dragonblight, the Alliance at Wintergarde Keep were under attack by the Scourge necropolis, Naxxramas, while the Horde at Agmar's Hammer were cut off by the nerubians of Azjol-Nerub. At this point, the Lich King began to attack the dragon shrines in the region, raising the corpses of dead dragonkin into undead in the form of frost wyrms, emberwyrms and magmawyrms. Adventurers did what they could to put a temporary stop to this new threat. Freed of the immediate danger of attack, both factions then sent their best to face the Lich King directly at Angrathar the Wrathgate. Angrathar the Wrathgate thumb|300px|right|In-game cinematic Members of the Horde and the Alliance fighting at the siege for Angrathar the Wrathgate formed a temporary alliance, focusing their attacks on the Scourge instead of each other. With the dragonflights providing aerial support, both factions made a daring attack on the gate, seizing control from the Scourge. There, Bolvar Fordragon and Saurfang the Younger taunted the Lich King to fight his own battles instead of sending his minions. The Lich King entered the battle and quickly slew Saurfang the Younger. Before Bolvar and the Lich King could trade blows, Grand Apothecary Putress, chief of the Forsaken's Royal Apothecary Society and the creator of the New Plague, betrayed the Horde and unleashed his plague on the combatants below. The plague killed most of the Alliance, Horde, and Scourge forces at the Wrath Gate indiscriminately, apparently including Bolvar Fordragon, and severely injured the Lich King. This betrayal and the Battle for the Undercity that followed ended upwards of seven years of cold war between the Horde and the Alliance. Further Battles Drakuru conflict With the new all-out war between the Horde and the Alliance after Putress's betrayal, only the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade remained fully dedicated to fighting the Lich King. The Kirin Tor, while more dedicated to the fight than the Horde and the Alliance, was fighting wars on two fronts: against the Lich King and Malygos the Spell-Weaver and his blue dragonflight. In the meantime, the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade managed to deeply entrench themselves in Zul'Drak. Meanwhile, the Horde and the Alliance began battling each other over the rich resources of lumber and minerals in Grizzly Hills. Adventurers for the two factions further escalated the conflicts and even, albeit unintentionally, aided Drakuru into destroying the resisting troll tribes and giving Drak'Tharon Keep to the Scourge. Empowered by the Lich King, Overlord Drakuru used his new powers to conquer the remaining trolls in Zul'Drak, bringing him into direct conflict with the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade. After the Knights of the Ebon Blade sent in spies to disrupt Drakuru's Scourge troll operation, he was later killed by the Lich King after he was defeated by the Ebon Blade's spies. Broken Front With the Drakuru conflict behind them, the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade managed to set up bases within Icecrown itself, regaining ground starting from the Argent Vanguard. The Horde and the Alliance however, using the best that goblin''Orgrim's Hammer'' and gnomish engineering''The Skybreaker'' had to offer, used gunships to fly onto Icecrown Glacier. Just south of Mord'Rethar: The Death Gate, the Alliance forces assaulted the Scourge defending the gate, trying to take control of it before the Horde could. However the Horde attacked the Alliance from behind , leaving both sides open to the Scourge. Despite their losses, the Horde saw this as precious time for which they may be able to gain strategic advantage. The Argent Tournament With the two major factions at war with each other, the Argent Crusade, in an attempt to unite the two factions against the Lich King, held the Argent Tournament in the northern reaches of Icecrown. The tournament, while trying to unite Horde and the Alliance, was designed to train their army against the undead and more importantly find the best warriors of either faction for a small strike force to attack Icecrown Citadel to the south. The method of using such a small number of warriors is because any great loss that they suffer would reinforce the Scourge, and would only leave the whole of Azeroth open to attack.http://eu.blizzard.com/blizzcast/archive/episode10.xml Fall of the Lich King After the Argent Tournament ended with the death of Anub'arak, the Argent Crusade, led by Highlord Tirion Fordring, struck an alliance with the Knights of the Ebon Blade, led by Highlord Darion Mograine. Thus the Ashen Verdict is born. A combination of opposing orders for a common purpose: the final assault against the Scourge in Icecrown Citadel and the eventual fall of the Lich King. References Category:Horde Category:Alliance Category:Wyrmrest Accord Category:Dalaran Category:Scourge Category:Wars